AGF Management Ltd. Has $95.18 Million Stock Holdings in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

AGF Management Ltd. decreased its position in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 38.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 980,773 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 614,936 shares during the period. AGF Management Ltd.’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $95,184,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its stake in Bank of Montreal by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 8,970 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $871,000 after buying an additional 649 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 291,338 shares of the bank’s stock worth $28,269,000 after purchasing an additional 19,147 shares during the last quarter. Amundi lifted its stake in Bank of Montreal by 29.0% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 738,167 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $72,665,000 after acquiring an additional 166,062 shares in the last quarter. PCJ Investment Counsel Ltd. purchased a new position in Bank of Montreal during the fourth quarter worth about $4,270,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 151.7% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 24,321 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,360,000 after acquiring an additional 14,658 shares in the last quarter. 45.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on BMO. Cibc World Mkts upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. StockNews.com raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. CIBC upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Scotiabank raised Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $128.40.

Bank of Montreal Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE:BMO opened at $97.70 on Tuesday. Bank of Montreal has a 12 month low of $76.98 and a 12 month high of $106.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The company has a market capitalization of $71.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.00, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.07. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $99.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $94.67.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The bank reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $1.36. The firm had revenue of $9.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.58 billion. Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 10.18%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.56 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be given a dividend of $1.1094 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 29th. This represents a $4.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.54%. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.09%.

Bank of Montreal Profile

Bank of Montreal provides diversified financial services primarily in North America. It operates through Canadian P&C, U.S P&C, BMO Wealth Management, and BMO Capital Markets segments. The company’s personal banking products and services include deposits, mortgages, home lending, consumer credit, small business lending, credit cards, cash management, financial and investment advice, and other banking services; and commercial banking products and services comprise various of financing options and treasury and payment solutions, as well as risk management products.